Ross Lyon puts as much value in the March premiership as he does in a full body shampoo, so it's not all that surprising that Fremantle's trip to the only football ground in australia with a permanent RM Williams stall would see the Dockers put in a less than sensational performance against the Swans.
Fremantle spent most of the first quarter chasing the locals, who must have been expecting to see some flooding because they painted rainbows for the fifty metre arcs. Ross Lyon wasn't prepared to run his players into the ground for a pre-season game so the normal trademark unrelenting defence found itself relented quite a bit. At quarter time the Swans had put on a tidy three goals while Fremantle didn't bother the goal umpire's right hand.
The wind at their backs made life a bit easier in the second quarter and some Fyfe brilliance had the Dockers bring up their first goal, Nik Suban got a bit cheeky to make it a couple but they were pretty keen to keep themselves running in economy mode. Alex Silvagni looked like a player who expects his opportunities to improve this season, a few more games into Michael Johnson will have him starting the season in All Australian form and Lachie Neale appeared keen to be the next reason that Nat Fyfe misses out on a Brownlow.
A heavy shower started the third quarter which had the fitness blokes asking if they were allowed to follow Nat Fyfe around with a bit tarp but it didn't last long and Fyfe waved the tarp off and called for the special wet weather hair band. All the hair band achieved was allowing him to see the dog’s breakfast the game became, as neither side showed a particular keenness to test the limits of their hamstrings and knee joints in the loosening turf. Fremantle failed to score for the quarter, although achieved their goal of surviving injury free. UNfortunately Michael Walters was reported but the club are hoping that Malcolm Turnbull's incompetence means the AFL’s recording of the game buffered out at the contentious moment.
With Fremantle barely getting up a sweat, for the opening three quarters, the Swans decided they may as well pack things up and be ready to get moving as soon as the siren sounded so the football that followed didn’t do the prettiness of the ground justice. Fremantle staged a mini fightback in the vacuum of an opposition but the real winner on the day was the fitness staff who had their players returned to them in better than expected condition.